Wasatch 100 race guide

Key dates for 2027

The race is always on the first Friday after Labor Day.

1. 1 December 2026
   Registration opens

   On UltraSignup, through the link on the race home page.

2. 4 January 2027
   Registration closes

   No applications are accepted after this.

3. 30 January 2027
   Lottery

   Open to the public. Runners not drawn are not charged.

4. 15 August 2027
   Trail work form due

   No extensions. Entries without it are revoked.

5. 9 September 2027
   Mandatory check-in

   Sugarhouse Park, Salt Lake City. Drop bags by 4 p.m.

6. 10 September 2027
   Race day

   5 a.m. start. The race ends at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Source: official race website, checked 19 October 2026.

How to get a place

Register on UltraSignup between 1 December 2026 and 4 January 2027. The fee is $325, and you are charged only if you are drawn on 30 January. Once you are in, there are no refunds, transfers or deferrals. The race usually starts about 280 to 330 runners, though 396 started in 2026.

If you are not drawn, you get an extra ticket the next year, and two extra the year after if you keep applying. Volunteers also earn extra tickets. Past winners and anyone with six or more finishes get in automatically, and the committee can add 5 at-large runners.

There is no set qualifying race, but the race says it only considers runners who can show successful ultrarunning experience. If you miss the cutoff at Bountiful B or Big Mountain, you must finish another 100 before you can apply again.

• How race entry systems work
• Volunteer at an ultra

The course

From Kaysville the race climbs about 4,000 feet up Bair Canyon to the crest near Francis Peak, then follows the ridges south past Sessions and City Creek Pass to Big Mountain. The hot, exposed, rocky stretch to Alexander and Lamb's Canyon is many runners' least favourite part. Night falls on the climb out of Lamb's, and the course rises to Desolation Lake and along the Wasatch Crest to Brighton.

From Brighton you climb past Lake Mary to Catherine Pass and the high point at Point Supreme, then follow steep, loose jeep roads to Pole Line Pass. The last miles drop through Decker Canyon and around Deer Creek Reservoir to Soldier Hollow.

The terrain mixes trail, game trails and dirt roads with scree, sagebrush, tall grass and cobbles. Some stretches between aid stations are longer than nine miles.

• Follow the 100-mile training plan

Aid stations and cutoffs

Wasatch cutoffs are arrival times. If you arrive before the cutoff you may rest and leave after it, but arriving at or after it means you are out. The race publishes target schedules for sub-24, sub-30 and sub-36 hours.

• Plan your splits in the pace planner
• Understand ultra cutoffs

From the 2026 race tables. Cutoffs are arrival times: reach a station at or after its cutoff and you are out. Desolation Lake and Rock Springs are hike-in stations with limited supplies. The 2027 tables had not been published. Source: official race website, checked 19 October 2026.

Crew, pacers and drop bags

Crews can meet you only at Big Mountain, Lamb's Canyon, Brighton and the finish. Being met anywhere else means disqualification and a ban from future races. For Big Mountain and Lamb's, each runner gets one vehicle with a parking pass collected from George Washington Park, and crews must leave as soon as their runner does.

Pacers can join from Big Mountain at mile 31.9, or from the start if you are 60 or over. They can join or swap at Big Mountain, Lamb's, Brighton and Top of the Wall, one at a time, and may not carry your kit. From Top of the Wall, friends and family of any age can join you for the last nine miles.

Drop bags go to seven aid stations and the finish, and must fit a 10 by 10 by 20-inch box. Pets are not allowed at any race venue, to protect Salt Lake City's water supply.

• Crew and drop bags

The Grand Slam of Ultrarunning

Wasatch is the compulsory final race of the Grand Slam. To complete it you finish three of Western States, Vermont, Old Dominion and Leadville, then Wasatch, all in the same summer. Tom Green won the first Grand Slam award in 1986. Ten runners completed it in 2026. If you apply to Wasatch with Grand Slam intent and are not drawn, you can still run if you finish three of the first four races and submit your trail work.

• Read the Western States 100 guide
• Read the Vermont 100 guide
• Read the Leadville Trail 100 guide

Records and results

Geoff Roes set the men's record of 18:30:55 in 2009, when the race finished at Homestead in Midway. The finish moved to Soldier Hollow in 2013, and Jimmy Elam's 19:08:35 in 2024 is the fastest men's time since. Bethany Lewis set the women's record of 22:21:47 in 2014. In 2026 Kevin Stewart won in 20:41:09 and Sarah Ostaszewski in 25:18:50, and 236 of 396 starters finished.

Finishers under 24 hours earn the Crimson Cheetah buckle, under 30 hours the Spirit of the Wind and under 36 hours the Badger Heart.

• Official winners list

Course records

The race does not publish its own records page. These come from UltraSignup and UltraRunning reports.

Source: official race website, checked 19 October 2026.

History

Richard Barnum-Reece came up with the race in 1980, and Steve Baugh mapped the route on Forest Service maps. Five runners started in September 1980 and two, Greg Rolins and Laurie Staton, finished together in 35:01:21. In 1981 nobody finished. Karl Meltzer and Betsy Nye have each won six times. John Grobben is the long-standing race director.

Getting there

You cannot leave a car at the start. Free buses leave downtown Salt Lake City at 4 a.m. on race morning. There is no bus back from the finish, only two shuttle minivans with limited seats, so plan your lift. Parts of the course, including the mile into Alexander and Decker Canyon, are closed for training runs.

Questions people ask